A conventional sortation system uses multiple sortation devices, each having a platform or tilt tray and being mounted to a moving belt. The sortation system identifies and selects a product that each sortation device receives at an induction station and then transports and places the selected product into a known receptacle, such as a chute, box and the like, at a discharge station. This conventional sortation system utilizes electro-mechanical devices to load the products from the induction station to the sortation devices and unload the product from the sortation devices to receptacles at the discharge station.
The sortation device of the aforementioned conventional sortation system typically is loaded with one product at one end of a linear sortation system or at a designated location along a loop-based sortation system. The product is then discharged at a designated location at the other end of the linear sortation system or at a designated location along the loop-based sortation system. The sortation device is limited to having one platform or tray capable of receiving one product and of depositing the one product into a receptacle at the discharge station.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an innovation that will overcome the limitations of such conventional sortation systems and the associated problems that remain unsolved.